


Somewhere In The Crowd There's You

by imthefirstinline



Category: Mamma Mia! (Movies)
Genre: 1970s, ABBA, Best Friends, Canon Rewrite, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Graduation, New Relationship, Rosya, Sharing Clothes, Young Tanya, bisexual tanya, but like we all knew it, but tanya likes it, donna is oblivious, gogo boots, mamma mia colon here we go again, mamma mia here we friggin go again, mamma mia that's a spicy makeout, rosie has bad clothes, tanya loves to smirk, tanyas a top im sorry, young Rosie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 22:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21023369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imthefirstinline/pseuds/imthefirstinline
Summary: It all starts on the night of her graduation from Oxford, when Rosie’s unrequited crush becomes a bit more ~requited~. Then, of course, Donna goes and breaks up The Dynamos by going gallivanting through the continent. But Rosie and Tanya might just get up to some gallivanting of their own.





	Somewhere In The Crowd There's You

I always knew Donna was too good for us, even if she didn’t quite realize it herself. She didn’t realize anything back then, really. 

I mean, she didn’t even notice the lacy white bra strewn across the floor, for christ’s sake (not mine; Tanya dresses much frillier than I could ever).

Before Donna burst in, I was having a perfectly good time sitting on the windowsill. I was content to watch the evening light cover the city I knew so well. Oxford is the city where I first fell in love, and the city I knew I would soon have to leave. It meant everything to me. It was where I learned to cook, where I had the best Battenberg cake in existence, where I started performing.

Where I met Tanya. 

So, yes, I was having a right good time just looking out at the city and sneaking the occasional (fine, constant) glance at her. We both knew that Donna would be back soon from “saying goodbye” to some boy toy or another, so at that point we were sitting about as far apart as humanly possible. 

I had been under the impression that Tanya would be on a tour similar to Donna’s. That she’d go say goodbye to all of the boys whose hearts she’d broken in our time here, and then maybe she'd come back to the flat for our final night as The Dynamos, capital T, capital D. 

It would’ve made sense. I mean, honestly, I even had to shield her at graduation when Scotty--or was it Steve? I could never keep them straight--tried to flag her down, probably to make one last desperate attempt to win her cold, cold heart. 

“Don’t let him see me,” she muttered out of the side of her mouth as we tried to find our seats. She grabbed my arms and pushed me in front of her, which didn’t do much in the way of blocking, seeing as she’s almost a full head taller than me. 

“Should I create a diversion?” I asked, not so discreetly eyeing Scotty/Steve. “I could pretend I’m ill.”

Tanya grabbed my head in her hands and angled it so that I was looking at her upside down. From that position I could practically see all the way into her perfectly upturned nose. “Don’t do that, you fool,” she said, shaking her head. But I could see a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

When Tanya and I got back to our flat after the ceremony, everything was a mess. We were still wet from jumping into the water after our performance--Donna’s idea, obviously--but we were both too knackered to do anything about it. 

“Well, that was that,” Tanya said as she flopped onto the bed, not even bothering to take off her go go boots. I’m not sure if she meant our performance or uni. Maybe both. “And now I’m just fucking freezing.”

I laid down next to her, and we must’ve looked like quite the pair in our nearly-matching outfits--red and yellow and orange striped tops, sparkly pants. Donna loved to dress us, to make sure we were a cohesive unit but that she was always the star. And she was. Always the star, this is. 

“I’m just fucking hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.” 

She wasn’t wrong.

Tanya stared up at the ceiling, and I turned onto my side to look at her, at her profile. I could draw her face in my sleep. Well, it would be a shit drawing, because I’m a shit artist, but still. I could draw it. She’s all sharp lines--upturned nose, sharp bangs and even sharper bob cut right at her pointed chin. 

After a minute, she draped her forearm delicately over her eyes. The sounds of thousands of students finally done with school filtered through our open window, but inside everything felt very still. The air was heavy with things unsaid, and I wanted to say them. 

“Do you have any regrets?” I asked. I said it so quietly I thought maybe she didn’t hear me. It’s a bizarre thing to ask, really, but I didn’t think I’d forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to tell her how I felt. 

Because the truth was that I’d been in love with Tanya since the moment we met. Since Donna first pushed us together and insisted that we were a trio. 

Tanya didn’t say anything in answer to my question, which I thought meant she was asleep. In fact, she looked completely unbothered, though she rarely looked bothered. 

But then she took her hand away from her face. “I don’t have regrets,” she said. “Never once have I regretted something I’ve done.” She turned over onto her side then, and we were facing each other. 

“Oh, really?” I asked, goading her. 

“Really,” she said. 

And then she leaned forward and kissed me, pressing herself into me like she owned me, like I was hers. 

And I was, and she knew it. 

I felt all the air leave my body. Because even though this felt almost inevitable, I still couldn't believe it was happening.

She pulled off her top, the one that matched mine, to reveal a white lace bra. I scrambled to start pulling my jacket and shirt off, too, but she straddled my waist and pushed me down onto the bed.

“Let me,” she said as she removed my jacket, my shirt, and my bra in seconds. 

Then she sat up, still straddling me, and ruffled hair with her hands while staring at the ceiling. I just stared at her. And then I couldn’t wait a second longer, so I sat up and ran my hands through her hair myself. 

But when I did she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. “I’ll bet you’ve always wanted to do that,” she said, smirking.

I nodded and swallowed, and she pushed me back down to the pillow and followed me there. Our mouths collided and we kissed for what could’ve been years or minutes or seconds or lifetimes. 

I finally got her bra off and threw it on the floor and then there was nothing between us, and Tanya was rough and sure of herself like she always is and I liked every bit of it, of her. 

“She’ll be back any minute,” Tanya said while we were taking a bit of a break. She was lying on her back again, but this time without a shirt, without anything. 

I put my chin on her chest and pouted. “Does that mean we have to stop?” 

“In a minute,” she said as she waved her hand dismissively and pulled me up towards her mouth, further on top of her. 

And then, after another lifetime of kissing Tanya, she pushed me off of her. I frowned but I got up, looking at the mess of clothes strewn everywhere.  
I threw on my fuzzy rainbow jumper while Tanya just sat propped up in bed, watching me get dressed with a slight smile playing at the edge of her lips. 

I let her look.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” she said after a while of just sitting there, topless. She looked so proud of herself. 

“You have loads,” I said. “You’ve got more clothes than anyone I know.”

“But nothing good.”

“Rubbish.”

After a moment she said, “Pick something out for me,” and I looked down at the messy floor and blushed. "Go on."

I walked slowly to my dresser, taking my time picking something for Tanya to wear, savoring the idea of my clothes on her body. I finally decided on a black tank top and my plum-colored leather jacket. 

I threw it to her and tried to busy myself looking at anything other than her getting dressed, but she said, “Rosie, what are you doing?”

“Giving you privacy?”

“I think that ship has sailed.” 

So I turned and watched her slip the tank top on, then wrap the jacket around her shoulders. 

She looked down at herself. 

“You have terrible taste in clothes.”

xxxx

When Donna strolled in, Tanya just stared at her nails like nothing was happening. She ran her thumb under the nail of her index finger, and it took all I had not to crawl over to her and take her hand in mine and kiss it. Kiss every inch of her, until someone was forced to pull me away (like they did with the Battenberg cake). 

So Donna absolutely charged through the flat, complaining about how her mother didn’t show up to our graduation. And why should she? She’d never come to anything in our entire time at uni. Not even when The Dynamos had our big performance. 

“You give that woman hell when you get home,” I told her. But really I was just saying what I knew she wanted to hear. I would’ve told her to go back to America and skin her mother alive if I thought it meant she’d leave me alone with Tanya. 

“I’m not going home,” Donna said, grabbing a bottle of vodka from a table on the balcony. She poured herself a generous shot. “Not for a long time."

Tanya swung her black leather go go boot over the sill. “Oh, the old ‘stay away as punishment’ ploy,” she said. She shot me a look as she walked over to Donna, and I reluctantly got up from the windowsill. 

Why should I have to comfort Donna? 

But because Tanya wouldn't stop glaring at me, I said “I tried that, but my parents just rented out my room.” 

“And sold your dog,” Tanya added as she stepped closer to me and smiled like she had personally convinced my parents to sell my dog. She was closer to me than I thought she would get with Donna in the room, but Tanya rarely worried about anything.

And I was happy to have her close.

“No, it’s not punishment,” Donna said, clearly not noticing how Tanya and I were  
completely pressed up against each other. Though why should she notice? It’s a perfectly normal thing to do with a friend. 

Except when you just made out with that friend for an hour straight in your shared flat.

“It’s the opposite,” Donna continued. “It’s a gift to myself.”

“Where will you go?” Tanya asked as she took a sip of wine.

“Anywhere,” Donna said, throwing her arms up and walking to the edge of the balcony. “Everywhere.” 

Tanya gave me another look as Donna’s back was turned. I would give up cake (for a year) (fine, for like a month) just to have Tanya look at me like that over and over again. 

“Life is short, the world is wide,” Donna said, turning back around to face us. “And I wanna make some memories.” 

As it turns out, so did I.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I am absolute Mamma Mia garbo TRASH. This is the first part of a longer story that I have planned, but it starts during the scene right after “When I Kissed the Teacher” in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again when Donna first announces her plans to travel the world. I was inspired to write this fic by: A) my deep and passionately gay love for Christine Baranski/Jessica Keenan Wynn and B) a recent rewatch of Mamma Mia! HWGA where I noticed an establishing shot of a bra on the floor of The Dynamo’s flat (pause the movie at 7 minutes and 21 seconds, you’ll see). The first chapter is a story of what happened to get it there (****wink*****). I’ve wanted to write a Rosya fic that takes place between graduation and when they visit Donna on Kalokairi for a while, so I guess this is the start of that. This chapter is from Rosie’s POV, but I might alternate. Would love to hear your comments!! I know I’m like a full year late to the party, but let’s see where this goes, shall we? 
> 
> Disclaimer: Some of this dialogue comes from the movie (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). I do not own any of this dialogue!! I am merely a poor fan who wants to write some gay fic.


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